Photo/Illutration A diplomatic vehicle in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Holders of diplomatic plates are being warned by the Foreign Ministry to either pay their outstanding parking tickets or lose their exemption from paying gasoline taxes when they fill up their vehicles.

The ministry on April 27 announced that it will clamp down on diplomats who have outstanding parking tickets, apparently frustrated with the tens of millions of yen they have failed to pay every year.  

Unlike regular citizens, foreign diplomats enjoy diplomatic immunity, and police cannot seize their possessions even when they continue to refuse to pay their fines.

According to data collected by the National Police Agency, vehicles with a so-called “blue plate” that belong to foreign embassies and consulates in Japan received 1,137 parking tickets in 2020.

The number was 2,615 in 2019 and 3,948 in 2018.

The ministry has issued a certificate to these blue-plate vehicles, with which they are exempt from paying gasoline taxes at the pump.

But from now on, the ministry will obtain records of the vehicles that park illegally four or more times in six months from the NPA. 

Starting from May, the ministry will stop issuing the certificates to such lawbreaking vehicles unless their owners pay their fines in full.

According to the agency, there were 2,736 cases in fiscal 2019 in which the owner of a diplomatic vehicle failed to pay the penalties and the five-year statute of limitations expired.

The total loss from these cases added up to about 41 million yen ($377,000).

There were 3,118 such cases in fiscal 2018, and the loss was about 46.7 million yen.

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